一番の宝物 My Most Precious Treasure
by chromate
Summary: Furukawa Nagisa had a dream: to join the Light Music Club and sing. Join Tomoya and friends as they formed a band together, performed at the School Festival, saved the sakura trees, and made it their most enoyable year in senior high.
1. Chapter 1: Prelude

Greetings to all. This is my first Clannad fic and I attempt to make a story about characters in Clannad engaging in music: keiongaku (light music). I've always wanted to write a fic about high school music band and I hope you will like my attempt of employing it into the world of Clannad.

However, to ease my trouble and to make the story sounds more plausible, several points have to be noted. Firstly, this is a slight-AU fic. Certain events in the anime will be mentioned but will not be strictly followed. Secondly, some characters will not appear in this fic. I have had a hard time deciding which character to play which instrument/role in this fic and sadly I cannot include all as this will only disperse focus on each character. Thirdly, some of the background of the characters will be different from that of the original anime/visual novel. For example, Tomoyo is not a transfer student but a regular junior (2nd year student) in this fic. These differences will be explained further in the fic.

Furthermore, if anyone is curious about pairings, I haven't made up my mind yet. In fact, since Clannad is one of the few series that I am really okay with any girl, it's hard for me to make up my mind now. I may pick a girl at the end or I may just make it an open ending. I really can't say anything more for now as I tend to focus more on the plot for this fic. I'll let things go as the story progresses and see how things turn out to be. Sorry for the indecisiveness.

I'm also adopting a different writing style for this fic. Unlike my previous fics that focus relatively more on environment, this fic will be more light-hearted. The genre includes Friendship, Humour, Romance, Hurt/Comfort, and Family. Last but not least, music!

In case anyone's wondering, the name of this fic, _一番の宝__物__/ My Most Precious Treasure_, is my favourite song from Angel Beats. By the end of the fic you'll understand why I choose this as the title.

I'm pretty excited to write this and I hope you will enjoy it too!

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><p><span>Chapter 1: Prelude<span>

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><p>'<em>Do you like this school?'<em>

Tomoya wondered constantly why he had acknowledged that strange girl's question on the bottom of the hill that day. He wasn't someone who poked his head into others' business casually, so he could not come up with a reasonable explanation as to why he had stopped his late walk to school and, Kami-sama knew why, engaged in a seemingly pointless conversation with someone whom he did not even know. Not that he minded talking to cute girls, but he considered himself too indifferent to have done so.

He kept thinking about that as Furukawa Nagisa led him to her destined place. When he observed carefully, this Furukawa girl was indeed quite cute with two brown pointed hair hanging in a weird triangular shape from the top of her head. He remembered raising an eyebrow at that strange hairstyle and pondered on the possibility that either she did that on purpose or she forgot to comb it in the morning. The senior had to admit, though, that her distinct hairstyle matched her clumsy and air-headed personality almost perfectly. Having talked to her a few times after that day, he noticed how unconfident and shy she was, and that was why she didn't seem to have many friends in the school. Part of that was also due to the fact that she missed school at a constant rate since her body was not that strong, and this was her second attempt as a senior in this very place that he despised so much.

Truth to be told, what he was against was not the school but the atmosphere. He was nobody important here, just a delinquent in teachers' mind and he made no attempt to change that perspective. Nobody wanted to listen to his story anyway. None of these authoritative figures ever tried to understand him, instead they simply labelled him as a troublesome teenager and shoved him away. This was the easier way for them to keep their income stably, he mentally noted.

'Thanks for accompanying me to here, Okazaki-san.'

He was brought back to reality as she spoke calmly. As he stared into her brown orbs, he reckoned she was one of the few people who actually _talked with_ him. She really communicated with him to make him feel better. Perhaps that's why when she expressed her hidden desire to sing in a band he told her to join the light music club. Being the timid person she was, Nagisa rejected the idea at first in fear of being a burden to the club. Yet he insisted. _'You won't do anything in your life if you keep running away.'_

'I wouldn't have been there without your encouragement. I was so shy before that I was afraid of approaching others by myself. But Okazaki-san…Okazaki-san still motivated me to reach for my dream when there's no one there to help me…

'Thank you very much, Okazaki-san.' She bowed, gulping.

Heck, he could have said that to himself. He knew it, but right now his intention was just to help this hopeless girl to join whoever there were in the light music club. Standing outside the clubroom, he had done what he could, and what happened afterwards depended on her totally.

A few days after meeting Furukawa, he understood that she aspired to join a club for her last year in senior high, as her constant sickness had prevented her from engaging in regular club activities. Now that her disease was cured (she assured him firmly), she wanted to experience the life that she had missed out.

Not that he would blame her. Tomoya had joined clubs before at junior high, but for reasons that he wished not to recall he hadn't joined any for the third year after that. He twitched his right arm slightly.

'Can I help you?'

Before he could answer Furukawa's polite statement, he heard a voice from his back that he knew too well. And he felt his muscles tensed.

'Ah, Tomoya? What are you doing here?'

Nagisa turned to the figure who stopped in front of them. There stood a relatively tall girl with long purple hair that clung to her waist. She was attracted to her bright purple eyes and admired the way it matched her hair beautifully. Nagisa's female instinct also led her to stare at the spots on her body where she felt…defeated. Apart from that, she couldn't help but notice the way she addressed him. _Tomoya_. Just _Tomoya_.

'Don't tell me you're trying to harass this cute girl here, Tomoya. I'm disappointed.' Her disgusted voice pierced through Tomoya's dignity and she put her hands on Nagisa's shoulders protectively. 'I won't forgive you if you do anything perverted, you hentai.'

'It's not like that, Kyou,' he sighed. Of all people he ran into he happened to come across the foul-mouthed one. 'Furukawa-san, the girl in your possession now –' he ignored the dark glance Kyou sent him, 'wants to join the light music club, so I brought her here.'

'It's t–true. O–Okazaki-san helps me a lot on this. Please do not misunderstand him.' Nagisa came to his defence, bowing nervously to the girl named Kyou who blinked at her explanation. 'Ah g–gomen nasai. I am Furukawa Nagisa from Class 3B. I'm here because I want to join the light music club and Okazaki-san accompanies me to this place. P–please' she shot a worrying glance, 'please don't hurt him.'

For a whole minute there was just silence among the three figures standing in front of the clubroom. It wasn't until a while later that the girl addressed as Kyou, much to the other two's surprise, burst into laughter. She laughed with tears in her eyes that Tomoya and Nagisa could only look at each other, confused.

'I'm sorry…I'm just…' she clapped Nagisa's hands in hers excitedly, much to the shy girl's surprise, and held them tightly, 'you came just in the right time! We're now just short of members to be acknowledged as an official club!' Tomoya stared in disbelief. The Fujibayashi Kyou he knew was just a violent girl who either threw dictionary(-ies) at people or kicked the other party in the chin. Never in his mind had he linked her and light music together. He could only pray that other members of the club would not suffer from her aggressive behaviour that was too agitating for most to handle. Her outrageous acts would make her a good metal drummer though, he mentally added.

However, it was also true that seldom had he seen Kyou acting so gladly. The smile on her face was brighter than any that he had seen before.

On the other hand, though, Nagisa let out a breath of relief upon hearing her cheerful response and she beamed, finally glad that she could be of some use. In her previous three years of senior high life, she was either sick or too timid to approach others that she felt like she had wasted her life, in some way. Now, she finally seemed to be able to make a change to that.

'Furukawa-san, right? I'm Fujibayashi Kyou from Class 3E. You can just call me Kyou,' she beamed. 'Do you mind if I just call you Nagisa?' Blushing slightly, the acknowledged girl nodded in approval.

'Please come in,' she motioned for them to enter the clubroom, 'we're just about to start our meeting and I'm really glad you decide to join us.' Without further notice, she pulled both Nagisa and Tomoya into the clubroom.

'Wait Kyou, I'm not here to join anything. I'm just a passer-by,' he reminded the feverish girl who ignored his confession completely.

'Everyone! We have now successfully recruited two members!'

_Wait…what?_ Tomoya gawked his head at Kyou's direction, who again had ignored him.

'Now with a total of five members, we can be officially acknowledged as the light music club!'

Okazaki Tomoya looked around the room to find his route to escape from here. He did not belong here, noticing a few open windows, but Kyou seemed to have looked through him that her grip on his arm tightened. He sighed in defeat and looked around the room, finding two girls sitting comfortably a few feet from them. One of them had long, blue hair, and she was holding a can of coffee in her hand. The other one had the same hair colour as Kyou, only that they were shorter and she looked more like a hamster when compared with the one standing proudly in the middle of the room.

'Welcome to the light music club,' they both stood and bowed after a minute of registering what Kyou had just said. The blue-haired girl started first, with clear excitement in her voice, 'I am Nishina Rie from Class 2C, and this is Fujibayashi Ryou from Class 3D. We hope we'll have an enjoyable year in the club.' Ah, that's right. He forgot that the class representative of his class was part of this club too.

As Nagisa began to introduce herself, Tomoya couldn't help but questioned Kyou as to why he had to be here too. 'It's not like you're in any other club anyway. Besides, we need five members to be recognized, so just fill in for the moment will ya?' At that point, the blue-haired wondered why he was so stupid as to have forgotten how forceful this girl could be. He mumbled incoherently and introduced himself, 'I'm Okazaki Tomoya from Class 3D. I can play any instrument proficiently.'

Silence filled the room as the Fujibayashi twins looked dubiously at him, while Nagisa and Rei, whom Tomoya was not familiar with, almost jumped in joy. 'Really? What do you play? Can you play the drum? We're in terrible need of a drummer now –'

'No, I lied. I can only play bass,' he turned to meet Kyou's questioning glance, 'and that is the truth. I do know how to play it, but I have no intention to be dragged into this for no good reason.'

Kyou, the proclaimed club president (to Tomoya's amazement), was in deep thought, rubbing her chin tirelessly. 'Hmm…a bass player would be a good addition, but we still need a drummer…ah Nagisa-chan, do you happen to know how to play any instrument?' Suddenly becoming the centre of attention, the brown-haired brunette tumbled in her words. 'Ah I–I cannot play anything…I want to join the light music club because I want to sing…' seeing the troubled and slightly disappointed expression on their faces, Nagisa immediately felt alienated. 'Ano…am I being a burden in here…?'

'Ah gomen! Don't feel that way!' Kyou exclaimed while Ryou tried to comfort the girl who was shaking. Tomoya did not fail to notice that and sighed. Just a moment ago he was complimenting on her confidence, and their countenance easily destroyed that. 'Please don't be troubled by that. We have been looking for a drummer because none of us can play drums. However, that doesn't mean singers are not welcomed.' Kyou went on to explain the previous drummer was a senior last year who had graduated already, and the Kyou planned to take charge of vocal (Tomoya raised his eyebrows firmly) if no one was to join. In brief, she explained that originally they had enough members last year, but the seniors had graduated and the other freshmen had decided to leave the club for she had other duties to fulfill this year.

'But now our band seems complete: Rei-chan and I will play guitar while Ryou takes charge of keyboard. Nagisa-chan, you will be responsible for vocal and Tomoya will play bass.'

'Hey, I haven't agreed to join yet.'

'Ah, that reminds me. Who were the guys who made a prank that caused a student to faint last year?'

Tomoya opened his mouth, shut it, and turned away from the other girls' accusing glances.

'But we need a drummer terribly. Tomoya, can you start playing drums?' The purple-haired teenager turned to her delinquent friend who stared at her as if she had gone nuts. 'I have no idea how to. Why won't any one of you play it?' With a wordless glance, Kyou instructed him to look around the room. Looking at Ryou, Rei and Nagisa and Tomoya understood why. The three of them looked too timid and weak, truth to be told, and it was hard to picture any of them hitting their drumsticks powerfully on the kits. 'Then why don't you play it?' He asked, not really anxious to be in here. Club activities were just not his thing. He was infamous in the school for being a delinquent, and a delinquent did not usually associate themselves with club activities like light music.

'I don't want to. It's that simple, baka.'

'Then don't force me to.'

'The principal's office is not that far away from here.'

Tomoya was physically irritated at Kyou's demanding attitude, but one more disciplinary reminder from the teachers (namely, that incident last year) would be good enough for him to be expelled. Not that he particularly minded, but without school he had nowhere else to go to, and spending time with his father at home was at the bottom of his wish list.

He tried to think of a name, and at the same time think that why he had not escaped earlier.

'_Do you like this school?'_

Ah, it was that Furukawa's fault, he mentally scolded. Had he not engaged in a weird conversation with her by the bottom of the hill he would not have been encouraging her to build up her confidence, and hence would not have been in here now, sitting in the clubroom of the light music club with no good reason. Why did he even help her at the first place? That he wondered, and could not figure out.

A name popped into his head all of a sudden, but he frowned at it, as he was well-aware that the name itself could cause an outburst from the aggressive Fujibayashi.

No, wait. This actually could be of some fun.

'I can think of someone who can play drums,' he appeared victorious and screamed in laughter as hope glowed in the girls' eyes, 'but let me ask him first to see if he's willing to join.' Receiving approving nods from Kyou and the others, Tomoya excused himself from the room and made a phone call in the corridor. He had a hard time controlling himself from chuckling as he imagined Kyou's expression when she knew whom he was calling.

'Hello?'

'Hey Sunohara, I have something good for you…'

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><p>End of Chapter 1<p>

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><p>I know this chapter is short and does not explain things well, but this is just acting like a prologue that introduces the basic formation of the club. Other characters such as Sunohara and Tomoyo will appear in future chapters.<p>

The 'incident' at the end refers to the case where Sunohara and Tomoya played a prank, unknowingly, on Nagisa (Clannad After Story episode 23). I didn't expand it 'cause it wasn't a main focus of the story.

Working on three fics at the same time is kinda fun, actually. Currently I'm writing another Clannad fic on relationship between Ushio and Tomoyo (yes, it's an 'o', not 'a'), and another original work about futuristic society. Adopting three different writing styles for three different stories is brain-cells-consuming but very fun to do so.

Enough of my mumbling. Please kindly review on this story and I'd like to hear what you expect from this fic. Criticism is also appreciated and see you all soon!


	2. Chapter 2: Girl's hop

I hope everyone has enjoyed the story so far as much as I enjoy writing it. The chapter title refers to the 4th track on Angel Beats' soundtrack. I don't have a particularly theme in mind for this chapter so I decide to choose a relaxing instrumental track.

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><p><em><span>Chapter 2: Girl's hop<span>_

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><p>Fujibayashi Kyou considered herself to be a pretty patient person. Rather, she believed that although she was known for being hot-tempered, she knew she could control her temper well when needed. Sitting in the clubroom during lunch break, she had been hoping for a good day before she arrived.<p>

However, when finally meeting the promising person that Tomoya, her ex-classmate, had proposed, she felt her heart sank as much as her anticipation to today's club activity did. In front of her stood a blond who was wearing his trademark cheeky grin, flirting with other girls in the room, spinning around in an effort to impress them. She knew him, quite well in fact. He was, along with Tomoya, the main source of her headache last year when she was acting as class president, as the duo either skipped classes or played pranks on classmates and teachers that she constantly had to deal with the consequences too. While she was relieved to know that she did not have to share a classroom with them anymore, it was her sister's turn to monitor their behaviour this year, and judging from their indifference to Ryou's weak lecturing she could tell no progress had been made so far.

'Ah Rie-chan, so you can play the violin too?' he casually drew himself closer to his underclassman, who appeared nervous due to his abrupt closeness. The blue-haired girl wasn't a timid person, but she was too respectful to ignore her senpai like that, let alone the fact that she barely knew him. And that made Kyou twitch her eyebrow to a greater degree.

'Tomoya, would you kindly tell me what the meaning of this is?' her sweet voice echoed in the teenager's mind as he was lifted up, single-handedly, by Kyou whose grip on his collar did not loosen a bit. He gulped as he knew that when Kyou talked in that voice, slaughter was bound to happen.

'Y-you asked for a drummer,' Tomoya stammered in fear of his life, 'and Sunohara played drums back then in junior high...'

'Ah com'on, Ryou-chan, there's no need to be so formal here.'

Before Tomoya could fully process Sunohara's words, he felt himself being sent towards the said boy's direction, making a direct collision with his best friend and sending both of them to the tables in the back. 'You idiot,' he muttered weakly, 'why do you even dare to flirt with the class president when her sister is right here?'

'I really don't trust them,' Kyou made her standpoint clear to her fellow members. 'First of all, I've known you two for a year and I never heard anything musical about the two of you, and secondly,' she pointed her finger at the blond, 'harassment is strictly prohibited in my club.'

Nagisa opened her mouth and hoped to make a defence for them, but as much as she could find an excuse for Tomoya, she just couldn't find a way to defend the blond. 'I-I think Okazaki-san just means to help because Kyou-san said the club needed a drummer yesterday, so…' the brunette trailed off, as she looked nervously to Kyou who gave a look that said, 'are you kidding me?'

'It's not that of a big deal, onee-chan,' Ryou, her twin sister, also tried to cool down the atmosphere of the room, as she smiled nervously. She wasn't particularly fond of arguments, and she couldn't really blame Sunohara for making fun of her as she knew her weakness in socializing with other people. The shy girl sighed and blamed her own self instead. From her previous encounters with the duo of Sunohara and Okazaki, she knew that they were not people with bad hearts, just that they liked to make fun of almost everything. Unlike her sister, she did not hold a hostile opinion towards the troublemakers.

Kyou threw her hands in midair, admitting defeat. Nishina gave her a reassuring nod and the older twin had no intention to continue fighting them when Ryou was here. Thinking for a while, she decided at least more members were better than no people joining, thus disbanding the club. She eyed the drum set by the corner of the room. It had not been played for a long while, as the seniors last year had all graduated already. Yet without a drummer, the band could not perform properly and Kyou knew it. The purple-haired girl gave up and shot a glare at the blond.

'Now, Youhei, I won't object to you joining our club if the others are okay with that too, but,' she paused as Sunohara's glint of hope in his eyes grew, 'show us what you have first.'

Hearing that, the seventeen-year-old blurted a casual 'no problem' and proceeded to the drum set. As he positioned himself, Tomoya frowned by his side. 'I'm surprised you didn't run away after foreseeing the chance of being beaten by Kyou every day.'

'You've got to be kidding, Okazaki. Look around the room.' And the taller friend did, observing the small club room that had some furniture placed comfortably. There were also some microphones around, with the stands by the wall. He didn't really find anything unusual in a room for the Light Music Club to use.

'Not that, baka. Check out the girls,' and now Tomoya understood how a hopeless idiot his best friend was. 'Com'on. The Light Music Club has been famous in school for all the cuties in here. Look at Ryou-chan, who is always so shy in a cute way. Then Rei-chan, the junior who had the appearance of a teen-model. Even Kyou the monster has a pretty decent face and body. Not to mention your new friend Nagisa-chan, who is so sweet and kind and have an innocent look all the time.' He waved around happily. 'This is a paradise for men to hang out with beautiful girls after school every day! How can I possibly decline the offer to join the club when all the beauties are waiting for me here?'

'No one's waiting for you. They're just hoping to dispose you soon,' he ignored his friend's enthusiasm and walked away.

Without another word, the blond entered his own world. Waving his drumsticks frantically, making sure each contact was strong enough, Sunohara Youhei began his own show. The room was instantly filled with his passionate beatings and the windows shook under the vibration of air. Deciding that he had won the first impression of the girls of the club, judging from the stoic expressions, he changed the rhythm and made a successful attempt on creating distorted melodies with his skills. The blond beamed at the speechless face of people in the room, and seeing Kyou in that state excited him even more. Making a finishing blow with a loud 'bang', he made the room fall in dead silence.

'That was…' Ryou managed to hiss, eyeing as Sunohara walked triumphantly towards then.

'Great, wasn't it?' He smirked, knowing that he had won all their hearts. 'I know my skills have attracted all the maidens' hearts that you all are falling for me now.'

'Youhei, you do know we're the Light Music Club, right?' The club president put her hands on her waist, with her blue eyes sending a dead glare to the drummer.

'Huh? What's with that?' Sunohara did not quite understand the question. He thought he had even won Kyou over just then.

'WHY THE HELL ARE YOU PLAYING LIKE HEAVY METAL? WE'RE PLAYING LIGHT MUSIC AND NOT TRYING TO DESTROY EVERYONE'S EARDRUMS!' Sunohara gulped as Kyou was ready to take him down by force again. He retreated to a corner as a murderous Fujibayashi marched on.

'Now, Kyou,' Tomoya, who had been suppressing his giggles, joined in, 'what matters is that you need a drummer, right? Just tell Sunohara to slow down his tempo by half then you should do fine.'

'I'm not playing some cheesy pop songs with my mighty skills! How can a drummer play drums without voicing out loud?' Sunohara protested, only to shriek again as Kyou sent him flying across the room with another kick.

'Actually, how about we show Furukawa-san, Okazaki-san and Sunohara-san our performances last year, then maybe they will have a better idea of what kind of songs we play?' Nishina, the only junior in the room, suggested with an effort to calm down everyone. 'That's a good idea, Rei-chan,' the younger Fujibayashi nodded, 'I think it will be better if they know how we did before joining the club.'

'Well…even if you say so,' Kyou thought for a while, 'we don't have any copy of last year's video footage left in this room. They're kept in the library reference room. We'll have to go there to get the videos.'

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><p>'So you were responsible for both Okazaki-san and Sunohara-san's behaviours last year?' Nagisa asked in curiosity. The whole gang had left the light music room and were on their way to the library reference room to get the video of their performance in the School Festival last year, and Nagisa was wondering how Kyou and Ryou got to know the two infamous delinquents of the school.<p>

'Yes. I told my form teacher that I did not want to be the class president, but he insisted and these two,' she gave another glare, 'only gave me headache ever since then.'

'It's not like you have to care anyway…' both Tomoya and Sunohara muttered under their breath.

'Hmm? What did you say?' Hearing Kyou's sweet voice, beaming without a care, they immediately backed off and pretended they had said nothing.

'Hmm? What's going on in here?' They stopped in their way as a crowd of students gathered. More than that, there was also sound of motorcycles storming around the school yard, with the students retreating from where they were standing. It seemed like something big was going to happen.

'Are they here to pick a fight?' Sunohara watched with his blood boiling in excitation. He never liked how flat the tempo of school life was, and some stimulants were needed to keep thing interesting in his life. A little bit of fighting would be great as some exercise for his muscles.

'It seems like it's the delinquents from the neighbourhood again,' Ryou started, hiding behind her older twin, 'they always target our school because of this school is the most prestigious one around the area, and they don't like the sound of that.' Nagisa and Nishina looked intimidated, as they were not too keen on seeing scenes of fighting around the school.

'I will not worry too much though,' Kyou said calmly, folding her arms in front of her chest as the others turned to look at her with confused eyes, 'it will be solved in a minute.'

Shortly afterwards, though, they heard shouts of enthusiasm from the crowd of students as a girl emerged from them, calm and confident, and walked towards the motorcycles. The delinquents, dressed in their fancy leather clothes, raised an eyebrow at the girl's approach. They did not have a specific target to mess around with as they just wanted to make fun of people of this school. Seeing a girl, seemingly the acclaimed representative of the students, marched forward fearlessly only made they want to laugh. Only if they had know who she was.

'There she goes,' the purple-haired girl watched as Ryou and Rei finally got on what she was saying. Nagisa and Sunohara looked dumbfounded as a silvery-haired girl with a black headband approached the group of bikers making tearing sounds with their vehicles. She looked determined to deal with them on her own, which worried Nagisa for she was not sure, even if Kyou had reassured her, that the sole girl would be able to solve the chaos here. What surprised her more was that the girl opened her mouth and told the delinquents to leave immediately if they hoped not to suffer from any kind of pain. The delinquents, clearly provoked, decided to charge against her at full speed, earning some worried screams from the students as the teachers had not arrived yet.

'They'll be dead,' Kyou whispered, as Nagisa was registering what she had just said when she saw it happening in front of her eyes.

In swift motion, the lone girl raised her leg and sent one approaching biker flying across the field. The other one was handled by her rotating her waist and another hard kick produced sent them away. The remaining four bikers sped towards her at once, only to be treated in the same manner as they either were sent towards midair or towards their colleagues. Within seconds the almighty gang was torn apart by a girl's legs. As soon as they regained consciousness, they instantly fled from the scene, shouting for revenge later on. Loud round of applause exploded from the spectators, and yells of 'Sakigama-senpai you're the best!' and 'Good job, Sakigama!' bloomed. She returned from the field with a sigh of relief and, upon noticing Kyou had been waving at her from a distance, walked towards them.

'That was a close call,' Kyou complimented, 'you should be lucky again that the teachers were not here yet, or else you'd get into trouble.'

'It's not like I want to make a scene anyway...It's just annoying to see them bothering other students here…' she trailed off upon noticing unfamiliar faces. 'Kyou, are they your friends?'

'Ah, where are my manners?' Kyou turned and started to introduce her club members. 'Tomoyo, they are Furukawa Nagisa, Sunohara Youhei and Okazaki Tomoya. They're our temporarily new members,' she glared at Sunohara who gulped, 'of the Light Music Club, who'll be in-charge of vocal, drum and bass respectively. Everyone, this is Sakagami Tomoyo from class 2B. She was our bassist and vocalist last year, but this year she quit the club in order to run for Student Council President.'

Both Nagisa and Sunohara started to introduce themselves properly (or in the blond's case, flatteringly), but Tomoyo did not pay much attention to them, as the twins and Nishina realized that she had been staring at Tomoya the whole time, and the two timid girls remembered that Tomoya had not said a word since Tomoyo made her entrance at the field. The rest of the gang also looked at the strange interaction between the strong girl and the school delinquent.

'Tomoya…' the silvery-haired junior began softly, only to cut herself off after saying his name. Blue orbs kept staring at each other as Tomoya also only muttered a gentle yet brief 'Tomoyo' in response. The two just kept looking at each other as other observed them in uncertainty. Further, Ryou noticed the glint of tenderness and delicacy in Tomoyo's eyes as if she was staring at a lover. Sunohara and Kyou also looked confused as they had never seen Tomoya like that before. He was an unmoving statue that had all his attention focused on the junior girl in front of him. Nagisa also looked troubled, as the still atmosphere became hard for them to breathe.

'Ah, actually we're planning to go to the library reference room to show them our performance last year,' Nishina finally decided to break the tense air. 'We should get going now before lunch break ends.'

This brought everyone back to reality as Tomoya and Tomoyo finally broke their solitary eye contact. They looked aside, faces slightly flushed, and placed their vision on the ground. 'T-that's right, we should hurry now. Tomoyo, see you next time.' As much as Kyou hated it, inviting the girl to come along now probably would not be a good idea. Tomoyo nodded as they took their leave.

'Tomoyo,' Tomoya asked with his back facing her, 'how is Takafumi doing now?'

Startled by his question, she took a second to come up with an answer as others paused and watched them. 'He's doing fine…he asks about you at times.'

'I see…' Tomoya gave a small, bitter smile at the sky as he kept walking, without looking back at the person standing there. The rest, each with their own question about the two, also raised their feet to move forward.

Tomoyo watched with her eyes on his back, a sad smile hanging on her face as her eyes moistened.

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><p><em>End of Chapter Two<em>

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><p>Hope you like this chapter too. It's still in the building-up stage and hence not much music performances happen yet, but there will be some in the next chapter! Also, I'm still trying to introduce most characters from Clannad in this fic (the mentioning of library reference room should ring a bell in some of your mind), but I can't promise if all characters can appear.<p>

I am not sure if Tomoyo's class is ever mentioned in the anime, so I just put 2B for now. I also thought about having Nagisa play a more active role in this chapter, but didn't find a room for that sadly. As seen from the Tomoyo entrance scene, I'll try to include scenes from the anime with modification to fit into this fic.

I'd also really like to hear what you think. Just a 'good' or 'bad' or any other comment would be good enough to make me joyful for days. So please kindly review and let me know what your think of this!


	3. Chapter 3: 23:50

It's been quite a while since I last updated this. Well, I was having a busy family trip with my recently graduated sister and I didn't really have much time to put my hands on the keyboard. Anyway this is a short chapter that still runs a rather slow pace, as the building-up part is almost done. The chapter title refers to the song _23:50_ in Girls Dead Monster's soundtrack that I've made the band play in this chapter. For those who don't know, it's basically another Angel Beats song. I made a list of songs that suit the vocals of each character for this fic and chose this song finally as I need a song that serves as a good 'first start' for Tomoya and co.

As usual I suggest reading with ½ story width. I've also made slight amendments on previous chapters to better suit the flow of story from now on.

On with the story now. Enjoy.

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><p><span>Chapter 3: 23:50<span>

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><p>The library reference room was one of few places in school where people might never enter by the time they graduated. Located in the far side of the building, it was filled with archive videos and old reference books that students rarely had the desire to watch or read. Given the small space inside, one would be amazed how numerous files were located neatly in order, as they were arranged properly by the sole librarian of the place.<p>

'Just give me a second to find the video, alright?' The said voice belonged to the loyal maid of the tiny palace.

'Thank you very much, Miyazawa-san.' Kyou beamed as the brown-haired girl turned to the section labelled 'club archives'. Having never been to the room before, she was originally surprised to find someone actually taking good care of this hidden place that nobody really cared about, or knew about.

'I didn't know that such a cute girl attends our school…' the deep mumbling of her future drummer did not escape her ears, and she was about to give him a nice punch when her twin sister stopped her, telling her not to cause trouble in a place they were not familiar with. Frightened, Sunohara hid behind Tomoya, who wore a blank expression on his face as he seemed indifferent to his friends' daily interaction. Kyou twitched an eyebrow at his bored countenance, but said nothing as Yukine approached them with a thin item in her hand.

'Here it is, the video of last year's Light Music Club's performance at the School Festival.'

As the group circled around a small TV screen, Yukine set up the tape and the screen began to show what seemed so familiar to the existing members. The rest watched as the club members of last year appeared on stage with the students going crazy, hands waving frantically and cheers echoing in the auditorium as the red curtain slowly rose. Nagisa's eyes widened in excitement as she saw the junior Kyou started their performance with her electric guitar that was later joined by another guitarist that she recognized as a 'senpai' to her now, given that that boy had graduated already. The two of them engaged themselves in the riff for a whole minute before other instruments joined in the party. The brown-haired brunette could spot the younger Fujibayashi by the keyboard, seemingly nervous but maintaining her composure nevertheless. The drummer, whom she noted as another 'senpai' to her now, hit the kits and rolled his possession swiftly to raise the pace of the song, of which the others obliged. An apparently younger Nishina was also on stage, but instead of moving her pick she was swinging her bow on a violin, adding a different element to the song they were playing. Behind her stood another freshmen of the time, the silver-haired girl whom she had just met a while ago. Sakagami Tomoyo handled her part steadily and gave a bigger role by providing backing vocal to the song, along with Kyou and the other guitarist. It was a very quick-paced rock song that made the crowd grow passionate with each note they hit. Nagisa watched in amazement and noticed that Sunohara, the designated drummer this year, seemed to be amazed by the performance as well, as he kept turning his head from the screen to the existing members, Kyou in particular, as if he thought he was deceived by the scene in front of his eyelids. Tomoya, on the other hand, also seemed to have put aside his trouble and stared at the screen with lips slightly parting. Nagisa smiled shortly upon seeing him not being bothered by his trouble, at least for the moment.

'This is such a great performance!' She couldn't help but exclaim, earning a satisfying smirk from Kyou and nods of thanks from Ryou and Nishina. 'Apparently there are people who also like our cheesy pop songs,' Kyou added while flashing a friendly glare at Sunohara who had just recovered from shock. 'Don't be flattered, Kyou,' Sunohara put his hand on his forehead, 'I am a big fan of music and I respect people who play music…even though they may not be my type.'

'I don't recall you giving me the amount of respect I deserve, you idiot.'

'I need not to pay any respect to a violent girl who throws dictionary at people!'

Ignoring the argument, Tomoya put his attention back to the ongoing video, which was now showing Tomoyo playing a short bass solo. He gazed at her carefree fingers moving around the neck of her sunburst American Deluxe Jazz Bass bass and how others joined in as her individual moment ended.

'You seem bothered for some reason.' As he turned to the owner of the voice, he found Miyazawa Yukine standing there with her long brown hair hanging to her waist, giving him a small yet calm smile. 'No, it's just that…' he felt like there's something in her that he could trust her, but he did not necessarily entertain the idea of pouring his heart out to a stranger he just met.

'It's okay if you do not want to tell me about your trouble,' her smile was still on her face, 'but if you permit, how about I teach you a charm that can make you feel better?'

He frowned. 'A charm?'

'Yes, a charm.' She turned around and grabbed a book from a shelf, placing it flatly on the table. 'We have all sorts of reference books here, and my hobby is to study those about charms.' An image of his class representative dropping cards onto the floor came to mind, and the delinquent decided to go along with it even if he was sceptical about these things. 'So what's this charm about?'

Yukine seemed thrilled. 'Firstly, put your hands on your eyes as if you are to rub them, then move your head in a circle for five times,' she instructed as Tomoya, with a doubtful expression, followed suit. 'Then, think of the source of your trouble and picture that source in your mind, be it a person or an object or an event.' Kyou and Sunohara had stopped their fight and they finally noticed the other three girls, Ryou, Nishina and Nagisa, also had their eyes on the pair by the table now. 'Then, jump up and down for three times and swing your arms in circles as well.' The blue-haired teenager was starting to regret agreeing to this. 'Now, throw a punch to your front as hard as you can for three times.' And so he did, giving empty punches. Others just stared as he felt like a total idiot by putting on an act like that.

'Do you feel any better now, Okazaki-san?'

'Erm...how to say it...' Tomoya put a hand at the back of his head, 'I do feel a bit more relaxed that before, but I don't think it eases me in the sense of letting my trouble go.' He was a bit surprised to find Yukine still having that charming smile on her smile, without frowning.

'It's okay. Charms do not work well on everyone all the time.'

'But then, why do you still practise it when you know it fails sometimes?'

'Charms act as a form of reassurance for one, Okazaki-san. They only give guidance, but to achieve a certain state still depends on the will of the person.'

Tomoya looked at her uneasily, as he knew not how to respond to that. If it was Ryou's fortune-telling he could compliment her for the sake of not getting hit by Kyou. But Miyazawa looked so sincere that he didn't really want to use flowery words to flatter her.

'I also have other charms available for use, Okazaki-san.' Yukine flipped her book to a certain page. 'There are some charms that will boost one's luck in athletic events, academics,' eying the room of girls nearby meaningfully, 'or even romance.' Upon hearing the last word, the blond who had stopped arguing with the purple-haired jumped in front of Yukine and kneeled in front of the junior, holding her hands with his blue orbs looking at her like a little puppy. 'Yukine-chan, please teach me all the charms you know!'

Tomoya and Kyou could only sigh with a fateful murmur of 'how pathetic'.

'We should leave now, Youhei. Classes are about to start and also we should not disturb Miyazawa-san any further,' Kyou stated while dragging Sunohara away from the sole librarian.

'Please feel free to come and visit again, everyone.' Yukine's smile did not vanish as the group politely made their exit. Watching their departing backs, a girl watched curiously before entering the library reference room again.

'Is something the matter–oh it's you, Tomoyo-san.'

'Hey there Yukine. Did the Light Music Club just stop by?' The silver-haired girl made her way to a chair and sat comfortably while Yukine turned to make some tea.

'Yes. They hoped to show last year's performance video to their new members, so I helped them on that.' Upon hearing that, Tomoyo did remember vaguely Kyou had mentioned something like that. She remained silent for a while as Yukine poured her her favourite red tea.

'Is something wrong, Tomoyo-san?'

'...' Tomoyo closed her eyes and took a deep breath. 'It's nothing. Please don't worry about it.'

'And I assume you're here to ask for some kind of help too, am I right?'

'As sharp as always, Yukine.' She smirked. 'I'll go straight to the point then. Have you considered seriously my proposal of us running together for Student Council?'

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><p>The clubroom was now filled with noise after hours of vacancy. Nishina and Ryou briefly tidied the room and set up the instruments, while the club president gave instructions to the new trio about their practice schedule and rules of the club as other students were participating in respective club activities after school.<p>

'...and that should be all. Oh, and any form of sexual harassment is forbidden. You hear me, Youhei?'

'Why am I the one being criticized again?' The blond exclaimed back, not willing to lose a fight whenever the opponent happened to be Fujibayashi Kyou. Nagisa only nodded and tried to memorize all the things that Kyou had just said, while Tomoya displayed an indifferent expression.

'You don't look too happy, Okazaki-san. Is there something bothering you?' The brunette asked, wondering if her companion whom she half-practically dragged along was happy with the outcome.

'Don't worry about it, Furukwawa. It's not like I have any intention to join the club anyway.' Seeing the disappointed frown on her face, his voice grew rapid. 'No, it's not like I am bored or anything. I only planned to help you get to the club. I never intend to join it.' That phrase caught the attention of the purple-haired girl.

'But you are still here, right Tomoya? Why don't you join us for some fun?'

'I'm here only because someone threatened me to, remember?' Kyou gave a laugh.

'How silly! I wonder who would do such a thing.' After that, she ushered Nishina to teach Nagisa about how to use the microphone, and led Tomoya to his position. There, he saw something had taken its place already.

'Fender American Deluxe Jazz Bass...' instinctively he muttered, and Kyou widened her eyes, impressed.

'I'm surprised you could recognize it immediately. Guess I've found the right person.' She sounded delighted as Tomoya observed the sunburst bass carefully. 'It was Tomoyo's actually, but she wanted to focus on the Student Council election and won't get it back until it is over, so she said our newly-recruited bassist could use it.' The idea of leaving her own bass to some guy that she might not even know did not sound right to Tomoya, but he figured he did not really have a right to complain about it, especially now that _he _would be the one using it. It's not like he had not tried it on before, anyway. He had seen this model, or more precisely _this item_, before.

'_Onii-chan, how about you teach me how to play it?'_

'_Aren't you learning the guitar? Why would you want to learn bass?'_

'_Onee-chan and you are playing it too. I want to know things that you two know!'_

'Oi, Tomoya? Tomoya?' Kyou had to raise her voice to snap him back to reality.

'Huh? Oh gomen, I was thinking of something in the past.'

Kyou pouted. 'Geez, I really wonder what happened between you and Tomoyo in the past...but now we should try to practise together first.' Handing him the bass, he carefully put on the strap and positioned himself gently next to the drum set. Sunohara was looking at the sheet of music that Ryou had handed him. It was one of the songs that they intended to play at the Founder's Festival, and according to Ryou 'it was one of the favourites at last year's School Festival'. Tomoya and Nagisa also received the sheet of their respective part, with Nishina and Ryou instructing Nagisa how to sing the song and Kyou dealing with the troublemakers. She could not trust her younger sister or her junior to handle these two here, when they could even give her headache last year.

'My part looks simple enough,' Tomoya glimpsed through his sheet and tried a few notes on the Fender bass, 'but I'm not sure if Furukawa can handle her part, knowing that she loses her confidence easily once she makes a mistake.' Turning their heads towards another direction, they could see Nagisa tumbling on a few notes that required Nishina to guide her through. 'I won't worry too much. She only needs to sing backing vocal for this song. Just treat it as a warm-up for her.' Kyou watched as she missed a note. 'Yea, don't worry too much, Okazaki,' Sunohara gave a smirk while throwing his hands in mid-air, 'with our mighty skills Nagisa-chan and Rie-chan will ease through the song.'

'That's what I'm worried about...' both Tomoya and Kyou stated firmly as they stared at Sunohara's practice, which eloquently demonstrated his passion for heavy-beat music. He ran on forte for almost all notes that, even though he kept a steady rhythm, the song sounded more like Metallica than Coldplay. 'I'm very fired up now, Okazaki. I'm ready to take the world!'

'Good luck with that. I'll definitely cheer you on,' the blue-haired said without much concern as Nagisa seemed ready to begin their first session. 'I–I think I'm ready for it,' she hesitated, shook her head a few times, swallowed hard, then managed to spurt it out. Others looked at her then exchanged affirming nods. They were ready too.

'Alright then, first trial of _23:50_. On count of four, Youhei,' Kyou stated and Sunohara, although unwilling to take order from the violent girl, hit his drumstick swiftly to signal the start of the song, before rolling on the drum to begin his part. Rei quickly joined with a heavy hold of power tab on her oceanic blue Ibanez RG3550MZ Prestige electric guitar that provided the backing sound, then Tomoya and Ryou gave their support as another layer of backing sound, with Ryou moving her hands fluently over the keyboard while Tomoya tried to maintain his composure for the song he barely knew. Nagisa gulped as Kyou made a guitar solo and started singing her part.

It blew Nagisa's mind how the president could handle both guitar and vocal at the same time. At times when she needed to sing backing vocal along with Rie, she felt like she was a step behind them. She didn't know much about instruments (apart from the recorder she learnt in primary school) and she practically struggled through the song as Rie and Kyou gave her the cue when to join them. What upset her even more was that Sunohara and Tomoya, also the newcomers of the club, seemed to be able to play like they were part of the band for quite some time. They handled their parts with frowns and bit their lips at times, but they still did not lose control of the drum or the bass.

The last note of the song was played, with Kyou holding onto the echoing last note on her dark red Ibanez RGA72TQM until the electric sound faded completely in the room. None said a word as they finished their first official practice with the song, _23:50_.

'It's…' Nagisa broke the silence, 'it's great! Everyone is doing really well!' She was nervous as she knew she had a hard time following the rhythm of the song, but she was also amazed by how synchronized the sound of the band seemed to be. She knew not much but she was glad that everyone was playing like a team, after such short time of cooperation.

'It really sounds good,' Kyou said, letting out a sigh of relief while wiping sweats on her forehead, 'I am surprised by how quickly the two of you,' she directed that towards the bassist and the drummer, 'could follow us since we have played this before already. Especially Youhei who gradually followed our parts even though he's still too loud.

'Nagisa-chan, you did well also. Just be more confident and pay more attention to Rie-chan's voice, as you two share the same part.' Nagisa blushed and smiled at the compliment, while Tomoya was slightly amazed by how she sounded when she sang. She definitely had a beautiful voice, yet her timid nature held that back. If she had more experience and faith in herself Tomoya knew she would be a great asset of the club.

'How about we do some separate practice then try together again?' Kyou suggested, only to find everyone but her twin sister nodding in agreement.

'Gomen onee-chan, but…it's five o'clock already…' The newcomers looked at each other, confused by what Ryou said.

'Ah, I almost forgot. You better hurry then. I'll see you at home.' And now they were even more confused that Kyou simply let her go that easily, given they still had about an hour for club activities. Ryou, noticing their perplexed expression, quickly apologized with a flushed face. 'Gomen everyone, but I have some business to attend right now and I have to leave early…I'll see you all tomorrow.' Waving them farewell quickly, she took her bag and tip-toed out of the club room in an instant, leaving Tomoya and Sunohara amazed as the shy Fujibayashi they knew just did something out of her ordinary character.

'Please don't mind my little sister, Nagisa-chan, Tomoya,' Kyou sighed, ignoring Sunohara's protest of not mentioning his name, 'she has to leave early since visiting hours ends by six.'

'Visiting hours?' Tomoya questioned, not understanding what she meant exactly.

'Ryou-san has a friend who has stayed in hospital since last year,' Nishina pointed out, 'but the hospital does not allow guests to visit after six in the evening, so Ryou-san wants to spend some time with him.'

'A "him"?' Sunohara rubbed his chin, acting heartbroken, 'I didn't know innocent Ryou-chan's heart is stolen by some ruthless, heartless guy who forces her to serve him like a maid!'

Kyou was about to hand-chop him with her proud right hand when Nishina interjected the flow. 'Please do not worry about Ryou-san's well-being. Hiiragi-san is a very nice and caring person.'

'Hiiragi-san?' Tomoya asked as Kyou made a face that Sunohara raised an eyebrow at, 'so you've met him before?'

Nishina just gave a knowing smile amidst Tomoya's frown and Kyou's undecipherable expression.

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><p>By the end of the white, long hollow corridor stood a small, private room that the owner chose precisely for three reasons. Firstly, it had a good view of the park outside amid trees. Secondly, people seldom went as far as the end of the corridor of life and death, hence the owner could have as much peacefulness as he wanted. Thirdly, the room got good acoustic, surprisingly, that he got to try out his hobby in here.<p>

When Ryou approached the door, she was greeted with the thunderous roar of the last movement of Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony, with the strings asserting power vigorously onto the wall and the brass attempting to regain their position as leader of the orchestra. Quietly and patiently she stood outside the room, listening to the roar of trumpets and furious attacks of cellos. She waited for the notes to subside gradually, blinking in rhythm. Once she confirmed the song was over, the purple-haired girl reached for the doorknob and entered.

The white room had a decent size given that only one patient lived here. There were some paintings of the hospital on the wall and some hung by the owner of the room. The large loudspeakers, connected to a blue CD-player, sat comfortably on the table next to the bed, where she found the owner sitting by the pillow, clearly still embracing the echo of the last note of the symphony.

'Beautiful, just beautiful.' His sole comment after her entry brought a smile to her face, as she knew instantly the song had entertained him enough to earn such praise from the said person who had a very critical taste of music.

'Too bad you missed it, Ryou-san. It was a moment of ecstasy that one gets from indulging oneself into the song and does not come out until the very last second. It was just brilliant.' The said person finally opened his brownish-yellow eyes to face the sixteen-year-old who sat beside him. Dressed in a light-blue hospital gown, he made some space for her to be more comfortable. For a whole minute, Hiiragi Kappei just stared at Ryou without moving his vision elsewhere, making her face boiled.

'Please don't stare at me like that, Kappei-san…' Ryou turned around, flustered, and tried to hide her face in her hands. While she was doing her best to recompose herself, the blond just couldn't stand it anymore and began to laugh.

'After a year…and you still get embarrassed by me staring at you…' he said amid laughter that Ryou wasn't sure if she should act bold, like her sister always did, or be even more embarrassed by the stated fact. And she chose the latter.

'You're such a bully, Kappei-san…' she said, but while her flushed face voiced that out too her lips showed otherwise, and she leaned closer to him and rested on his shoulder, while he put his arm around her waist to shorten the distance between them. It was as if they were sharing the bed, only that the younger Fujibayashi was still wearing her school uniform while the blond had that trademark light-blue gown on.

Neither spoke afterwards, but they had gotten used to such tranquillity after Ryou had spent many time visiting him over the past year. Both parties had a lot to tell each other: Ryou had stories about the new members of the Light Music Club to share, while Kappei had news about a new treatment that the doctor had informed him today, but neither of them was in a rush to say anything. For now they just wanted to feel the presence of each other in a warm embrace that, both knew, may not last any longer.

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><p><em>End of Chapter 3<em>

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><p>And this is chapter three. So far the introductory part is almost done and I probably will start on the main arc of this story in next chapter, which will be about the group's performance in the Founder's Festival. Relationships between characters will also start to be another focus of the story.<p>

Yes, the mysterious Hiiragi Kippei has a role in this story too. His love-role, though, is quite obvious. Sorry to Tomoya-Ryou fans. I haven't decided on how big his role will be, but his names will definitely appear again in future chapters. For characters who haven't appeared yet, namely Fuuko and Kotomi…as much as I'd like to include them I don't know where to put them. Further, the mentioned guitars/bass in this fic are real and I borrow them for a better image of the band only. You can google them and see how they look to have a better image of the whole band in picture.

On side note, I've also recently uploaded another Clannad fic, _Before Dawn_, which is about the relationship between Tomoyo, Kyou and Ushio after Nagisa's death, as Tomoyo pulled Tomoya from depth of his depression and struggled to earn Ushio's trust. It was an enjoyable writing experience and do check it out if you have time. I'd really like to know what people think of it.

Reviews are always welcome, as usual. Please let me know what you think of this!


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